Social development during Childhood

Early Childhood Emotional and Social Development: Identity and Self-EsteemDecember 7, 2013

Angela Oswalt, MSW

During early childhood, children start to develop a "self-concept, " the attributes, abilities, attitudes and values that they believe define them. By age 3, (between 18 and 30 months), children have developed their Categorical Self, which is concrete way of viewing themselves in "this or that" labels. For example, young children label themselves in terms of age "child or adult", gender "boy or girl", physical characteristics "short or tall", and value, "good or bad." The labels are used to explain children's self-concept in very concrete, observable terms. For example, Seth may describe himself this way: "I'm 4. I have blue eyes. I'm shorter than Mommy. I can help Grandma set the table!" When asked, young children can also describe their self-concept in simple emotional and attitude descriptions. Seth may go on to say, "Today, I'm happy. I like to play with Amy." However, preschoolers typically do not link their separate self-descriptions into an integrated self-portrait. In addition, many 3-5 year olds are not aware that a person can have opposing characteristics. For example, they don't yet recognize that a person can be both "good" and "bad".

As long-term memory develops, children also gain the Remembered Self. The Remembered Self incorporates memories (and information recounted by adults about personal events) that become part of an individual's life story (sometimes referred to as autobiographical memory). In addition, young children develop an Inner Self, private thoughts, feelings, and desires that nobody else knows about unless a child chooses to share this information.

Because early self-concepts are based on easily defined and observed variables, and because many young children are given lots of encouragement, Preoperational children often have relatively high self-esteem (a judgment about one's worth). Young children are also generally optimistic that they have the ability to learn a new skill, succeed, and finish a task if they keep trying, a belief called "Achievement-Related Attribution", or sometimes "self-efficacy". Self-esteem comes from several sources, such as school ability, athletic ability, friendships, relationships with caregivers, and other helping and playing tasks.

As with emotional development, both internal and external variables can affect young children's self-concept. For example, a child's temperament can affect how they view themselves and their ability to successfully complete tasks. Children with easy temperaments are typically willing to try things repeatedly and are better able to handle frustrations and challenges. In contrast, children with more difficult temperaments may become more easily frustrated and discouraged by challenges or changes in the situation.

Children who can better cope with frustrations and challenges are more likely to think of themselves as successful, valuable, and good, which will lead to a higher self-esteem. In contrast, children who become easily frustrated and discouraged, often quit or need extra assistance to complete a task. These children may have lower self-esteem if they start to believe that they can't be successful and aren't valuable.

Source: www.gracepointwellness.org

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